The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the
Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of
Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play,
Il Campiello directed by
Bill Bryden at the
Old Vic. The band did not wish to break up after the production ended, so its director,
Michael Nyman, began composing music for the group to perform, beginning with "In Re
Don Giovanni", written in 1977. Originally made up of old instruments such as
rebecs,
sackbuts and
shawms alongside more modern instruments like the
banjo and saxophone to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it later switched to a fully amplified line-up of
string quartet, double bass,
clarinet, three saxophones,
horn, trumpet,
bass trombone, bass guitar, and piano. This line up has been variously altered and augmented for some works.